Minus Mccardell, Bucs Hold Minicamp

NFL

Receiver Keenan Mccardell Is The Only Player Who Won't Attend The Workouts.

June 22, 2004|By Chris Harry, Sentinel Staff Writer

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are barely five weeks from reporting to training camp at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

But before they can do training camp, they have to do minicamp.

Tampa Bay will be the last of the NFL's 32 teams to hold their lone mandatory offseason workout sessions when the club reports today for five practices over the next three days at One Buc Place.

Most teams hold their primary minicamp in April or May, usually within two weeks of the draft (teams with new coaches are allowed two minicamps). This year, with Coach Jon Gruden and new General Manager Bruce Allen in charge, the Bucs have put more emphasis on the offseason program, specifically the 14 league-sanctioned organized team activities (OTAs) when offenses and defenses are allowed to line up against one another.

The Bucs completed the last of those 14 sessions last week and today will welcome their full roster en masse.

Well, almost.

Wide receiver Keenan McCardell wants a new contract and is not expected to show up without one. McCardell has two years remaining on the four-year, $10 million deal he signed two years ago. Neither side has said much publicly, and expect that to continue this week from Tampa Bay's end.

"We're very pleased with the turnout we've had from the 80-some players who have chosen to come," Allen said of the voluntary workouts.

One missing player won't cut into Gruden's "to-do" list. He'll will use the five practices this week to, among other things:

Fine-tune first-round pick Michael Clayton, a wide receiver from LSU whose repetitions have increased with the absence of McCardell.

Hasten the familiarity of tailback Charlie Garner on offense and linebacker Ian Gold on defense. They loom as the biggest impact newcomers on their respective sides of the ball.

Continue evaluating the horde of new players -- more than 30 in all, including 22 free agents signed since March 3.

"You have to teach your new players, rookies and free agents the system and try to get some unity and camaraderie going," Gruden said.

Ideally, everything will be fresh in the players' minds when they report to Celebration on July 30 and begin two-a-days July 31.

"The good thing is we'll have five practices where the vast majority of this team will have been through these drills and we should be able to move effortlessly in terms of where to go and how we're running each drill," Gruden said.